Mersey Tunnels debt repayments to slow down after 2015

DEBT repayments on the Mersey Tunnels are set to fall dramatically within two years, prolonging toll misery for motorists.

DEBT repayments on the Mersey Tunnels are set to fall dramatically within two years, prolonging toll misery for motorists.

The schedule for reducing the historic debt can be revealed by the ECHO today, as councillors on the Labour-run authority were due to approve another 10p rise on the toll.

In recent years Merseytravel has reduced the debt, which will stand at £52.4m in April, by around £5.5m a year.

In April 2015 the debt will have fallen to £40.6m, but at that point Merseytravel will slash its capital repayments to around £2.5m.

By 2025 £13.2m will still be outstanding, and the authority will only be paying off £500,000-a-year.

This is despite the tunnels returning a surplus of at least £8m annually.

If payments were maintained at their present levels the debt could be wiped out by 2022.

It has led anti-toll campaigners to question whether the transport authority has a deliberate policy of extending the debt to help justify perpetual rises in the tolls.

John McGoldrick, of the Mersey Tunnels Users Association, said: “There is nothing to stop an authority paying off debt earlier than the schedule.

“There is nothing to stop Merseytravel from taking out a new loan of say one pound on the Tunnels and never repaying it, so that they could say that there was debt.”

But Cllr Liam Robinson, chairman of Merseytravel, insisted there was “nothing out of the ordinary” about the schedule repayments.

“This is not some kind of strategy to keep the loans in place for as long as possible, but an accepted and prudent way of repaying the loans on the best terms. The changes in payment levels simply reflect the terms of the agreed schedule of repayments.

“Also, we would not be able to repay the loans early without incurring penalties – just as householders may when they repay their mortgages early.”

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Alastair Machray

Alastair Machray was appointed editor of The Liverpool Echo in 2005 and is also editor-in-chief of Trinity Mirror Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales. He is a former editor of The Daily Post (Wales and England) and editor-in-chief of the company's Welsh operations. Married dad-of-two and keen golfer Alastair is one of the longest-serving newspaper editors in the country. His titles have won numerous awards and spearheaded numerous successful campaigns.